


Adapting Customs

by Batkate



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/F, cute superhero girlfriends, set post-Batgirl of Burnside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5056834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batkate/pseuds/Batkate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara Gordon comes home to find her girlfriend and … some decorations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adapting Customs

**Author's Note:**

> For DC Marriage Week 2015 (and set during a potential future in the current canon). I’m a bit late in the week for this piece, but this is my submission for day one’s prompt: Proposal.

“Good evening, Ms. Gordon.”

“Evening, Gary,” Barbara said, eyes never leaving her tablet even as she walked towards the front door of her apartment building. “Everything alright with Nancy and the girls?”

“Oh, everything’s fantastic — Marcy got into STEM camp. We can’t thank you enough for that letter of recommendation.”

Babs glanced up at her doorman with a smile. “I was glad to help.”

“Tell Ms. Anders I said hello,” Gary said as he opened the door, “She was a little distracted when she came in earlier and I don’t think she heard me.”

“Oh, I will,” Babs said, walking through the doorway but pausing before making it through the entryway.

“Wait, you said distracted?”

“Well, with all those groceries she was carrying, I didn’t blame her,” he said with a smile and a shrug.

“Huh,” Babs said to herself as she made her way to the elevator. Did she forget to buy groceries last week? She couldn’t imagine why Kori would go out mid-week to get more food when they were going to be going out with Alysia and Jo on Thursday, then over to the Gotham Academy fundraiser dinner on Friday and then to the manor on Saturday for Steph’s birthday lunch (courtesy of Alfred). Leftovers were most definitely going to be in their future.

Even as she finished her email to Frankie on the tablet (subject line: cycle booster jet upgrades), Barbara couldn’t help but think about how she got to this point. From her time dealing with everything in downtown Gotham, she never thought going to grad school in Burnside would lead her to tech consulting for every major government department in Gotham within five years. Of course she never would have imagined Frankie would end up her crime-fighting partner and save her life more times than she could count.

More than anything, Barbara really didn’t expect to team-up with Starfire, fall hard for her at the exact same moment she realized she was bi. Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise in her already surprising life.

Her life was weird. But those weird parts were largely kind of amazing, not in the least because of the amazing, loving, beautiful woman waiting for her on the couch in their apartment.

That was what she was expecting, at least. But she wasn’t expecting to open her apartment door to what her brain could only describe as “a clusterfuck.”

Streamers. Streamers everywhere in blues and purples. And light blue balloons absolutely covering the floor, moving a little as she opened the door completely. It was lucky that the sun was only just starting to set because it was the only light coming in thanks to the streamers hiding every lamp in their living room. She saw more party supplies than she did her actual apartment.

With hesitancy at what she might find, Barbara managed a loud call of “Kori?”

Her girlfriend, adorable princess that she was, popped her head from the bedroom, her face perfectly framed by a particularly big loop of a streamer.

“You are home!”

“Yes, I think I am,” Barbara said as she took a full step inside and closed the door, “I mean, this was my apartment this morning, at least. Not sure what it is anymore.”

“Oh. Yes.” Kori floated into the room, balloons fluttering below her as she passed. “I decorated.”

“Yes, I did notice that,” she chuckled. Barbara was mostly amused by her girlfriend’s quirks, even as she imagined what an ordeal the decorations would be to clean up before work in the morning. It probably helped that her girlfriend was wearing that one pale pink off-the-shoulder sweater that always made Babs’ stomach flip in a nice little way.

“I just …” Kori pushed some streamers out of the way as she floated forward, “thought you would be back later. That I would have more time.”

“I’m not sure you need more time, hun.”

“No,” Kori shook her head, “there needs to be more blue streamers.”

“… ‘Kay.”

“It needs to look right, but,” she looked at Babs, clearly pondering something, “… well, you are here so I should just … here.” Kori zipped up to Barbara’s place near the door, taking her hands. She continued to hold Babs’ hands as her feet lowered to the floor. And then, looking Babs right in the eyes, Kori spoke.

“My moon, my glowing orb, my bright light in the dark. Bringing me insight, sharing your love—”

“Kori?” Babs cut her off.

“Y-yes?” Kori said, looking far more flustered than usual.

“I’m sorry, but … I don’t know what’s happening right now.”

“Well, this is the wooing. Our wooing.”

“Um, while this is all really nice, Kori, pretty sure I’m thoroughly wooed by now.”

“No, that’s not … I don’t have the right word. The ceremony - the one we saw at the game.”

The game. The Gotham Rooks baseball game. Barbara’s dad had brought them both to a home game after Kori had asked him about sports. Kori was intrigued, especially interested in trying the stadium hot dogs and asking why they don’t have metahumans playing to make the game go faster. But now that Barbara thought about it, the other moment Kori seemed interested in was—

“The proposal?” Babs asked, the words weak in her throat.

“Yes! That! And I mentioned how it was romantic but you thought it was tacky and would never want to be proposaled to like that because it is in public on the jumbo video screen. And that had me thinking about proposals and what I would propose and then I realized it was not just how I would propose but that I wished to, so very badly!” Her eyes were lit up so bright, that kind of sparkle that meant she was full of joy.

How could Babs have the heart to tell her that proposing wasn’t just something people did to be nice to their girlfriends?

“Kor … I don’t think you understand you’re asking me.”

A little of the sparkle left Kori’s eyes.

“I do know what I’m asking,” she said, with just a little defensiveness in her voice, “Tamaran is known for being more open about love than Earth, but we still have life partnerships. We still have marriages.”

“Oh Kori— I didn’t mean it like that, I just—”

“You do not want to be married.”

“I—” Barbara stammered. What was she supposed to say? “Kori, I’m sorry, I just—”

“No, don’t apologize,” Kori shook her head, sad but strong, but turning her head away. “We hadn’t talked about it. I surprised you with this big idea.”

“This isn’t about how I feel about you, though. I love you.” Barbara had said it before. Many times over the course of their year and a half together. It was never hard to tell Kori that she loved her, but she needed more than ever for Kori to believe she meant it.

With her eyes closed, Barbara could feel her girlfriend move back towards her.

“Oh Barbara,” Kori said. “I would never doubt you.” She cupped Barbara’s face gently, looking her once more in the eye, “And wife or no, I am so happy with my life here and with the love you give me.” And then Barbara was kissed and it felt right.

“Well,” Barbara blushed, much more self-conscious than she was even during the proposal. Kori moved again, this time to put Barbara’s bag at it’s place near the closet. “I do like the streamers,” Barbara added, “but it’s a little hard to move around.”

“Oh,” Kori said, “Yes, they are quite a lot, aren’t they? They are supposed to look like the Razplart forests of my home.”

“They are?” Barbara asked, now pulling up one of the nearby stools from their kitchen bar. It was good they could easily talk about this, even after Kori was disappointed.

“Yes, the Razplart leaves are long and hang down like this — between that and the thick Jenlip moss growing below, it makes the forest dense.”

“And the balloons, they were the moss?”

Kori nodded. “This is the traditional setting of a Tamaran proposal.”

“… Oh.” Well … shoot. That makes a little more sense.

“I tried to recreate it as best as I could,” Kori insisted. “It is hard to find the right shade of Razplart leaves. But the person who wishes to propose brings their beloved to the forests, wearing their most beautiful garb, holds their hands and says their oath of devotion while looking them in the eye. Legends say that those most connected emotionally with each other will hear the trees sing their approval of their pairing.”

Guilt hit Babs again.

“I’m sorry, Kori,” she said, “I didn’t realize how much thought you put into this … I didn’t even realize Tamaran had proposals, much less ceremonies for them.”

Kori cupped her face once more, that gentle warmth comforting her.

“Barbara, I told you, it is alright. Truthfully, most royalty do not know about this custom.” She turned her gaze away. “Our culture is focused on love between each other, love of all kinds, but the royal family still consists of life partnerships arranged for political progress.”

Barbara knew this, to a point. She knew that Kori had been promised to someone as a bride — she knew it was a sore spot for her girlfriend and one of the reasons she made Earth her home now.

“But the common people, they are not obligated in such ways — truly, they are the ones who best follow my planet’s belief in loving freely. I chose to learn all about these common customs because I thought they were so beautiful. To be able to openly profess your love. To choose who gets to share your life.” Kori looked at Babs again. “And I realized this week that I have all of that now, here with you.”

Babs’ heart hurt now, but it was a good hurt. Not one out of guilt, but one of longing. This woman in front of Barbara, loving her so fully and unconditionally … she was so happy.

Barbara had never, ever thought she was going to get married. Even with her past romances, even with the “could have been” loves of her life, she had never seen herself as someone who could settle down in that way. She was herself and she had the people she loved in various ways, but she didn’t need to be married.

“Kori,” Barbara said evenly, “Why don’t you start the oath over?”

Kori’s eyes went from surprise to panic. “Oh no, Barbara!” she said. “Please don’t. I didn’t want you to — telling you about my world wasn’t to make you feel bad about—”

“It’s okay,” Barbara said, now cupping Kori’s face, “I mean it. Just say it again for me.”

Kori’s eyes lit up again and her smile came back. “Okay.” She took Barbara’s hand but then—

“Oh, no!” Kori cried and dropped her hand and dashed off towards the kitchen. For the briefest moment Barbara thought her girlfriend had changed her mind in a sick twist of irony, but Kori came back quick enough, this time holding a single orange.

“It’s part of this. I’m supposed to pick a Razplart fruit from the Razplart tree and this is the very closest I could find at the grocers. It is supposed to have green spots but I did not have time to paint them on before you got home.”

Barbara held back her laugh, but a smile came through. “I’m sure that’ll work.” And then they both grinned at each other. The grins continued as Kori started the oath over, speaking of moons and orbs and lights in the dark. And Barbara realized in that moment she never grinned as much in her whole life as in the 18 months since Kori had first kissed her.

Barbara Gordon didn’t need to get married. But maybe she wanted to.


End file.
